We are so overloaded! We have several youngsters who are just under or just over a year of age. We have three kids who need their potty training shaped up. But they are each such wonderful kids… – Barbara

Kim (and everybody else), we do have great news about Tommy. But, first, let me assure you that things are good at SRU. It’s just that we’ve been incredibly busy with a plethora of activities that we haven’t had the cycles to blog in many, many weeks. Among other things, we had to prepare for the annual national specialty show for ASSA, and we’re actually taking a vacation — right this minute, we’re in Miami, FL, on our sailboat, waiting for the proper weather conditions so we can sail across to the Bahamas for a week or two of relaxation!

Now, about Tommy: He’s been doing extremely well emotionally, in a really good mood, and playing a lot with some of the other kids — especially Colin! But he’s also been having some physical health problems, including significant arthritis, for which he’s getting medical treatment (including K-laser treatments). However, there’s the on-going problem of having too many kids in the house and Tommy not getting enough intellectual stimulation. Our wonderful petsitter, Sara, has gotten very close to Tommy in the last few months, and often came over to the house solely for the purpose of taking Tommy for a walk (which he loves!). Recently, Sara asked if we would consider her a suitable candidate to adopt Tommy, and it didn’t take us long to make the decision.

Sara and her husband have one other dog, with whom Tommy is already close friends. They live just a very few miles from us. That means that they live in the same weather conditions, including snow in the winter. Sara wants to work with Tommy to become a therapy dog, and she’s excited about continuing his carting (which he also really enjoys). In short, she can provide the love, care, and attention that he needs, and she actively wants to provide the conditions that we wanted Tommy to have.

The adoption was finalized very shortly before we left for this sailing trip, which is why we haven’t had the time to announce it yet.